MacKenzie is working at the intersection of art experiences and health. Her research focuses on how art viewing might support well-being, under what circumstances, and through which mechanisms.

MacKenzie was part of the inaugural cohort of the MSc in Psychology of the Arts, Neuroaesthetics, and Creativity at Goldsmiths, University of London. Currently, she is a final-year doctoral candidate at the University of Vienna, enrolled in the Cognitive, Behavioural, and Neuroscience Doctoral School (CoBeNe). Her PhD is based in the ARTIS Lab, funded by a Horizon Europe 2020 project, where she has focused on examining the role of the arts in supporting health and well-being.

During her visit to the Donders as a Marietta Blau Scholar, funded by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF), she collaborated on developing an art-based intervention with Prof. Corina Greven and engaged in SPS.

Throughout her research, MacKenzie has provided evidence that art viewing can improve anxiety and negative mood both in museums and online during the pandemic. Her work has primarily identified and empirically tested essential characteristics of art-viewing interventions, contributing valuable insights for researchers and practitioners. In 2022, she was awarded an American Psychological Association Division 10 Microgrant to co-design and evaluate art interventions alongside leading scientists, philosophers, and the neuroaesthetics company Kinda Studios at the National Gallery, London.

Recently, MacKenzie was honoured to receive an Impact Award from the City of Vienna Cultural Affairs, recognising her scientific work as having significant potential and societal value, as well as a Barron Award for her notable contributions to the field of psychology of the arts, aesthetics, and creativity from the American Psychological Association Division 10.